Abundant crayfish presence could be boon in Lake Tahoe

Commercial permit granted to local fisherman

Crayfish, with their menacing tentacles and angry clamp, may be the least attractive thing a fisherman would find in the crystal blue water of Lake Tahoe.

But, as hard as it is for some residents to believe crayfish live here, their presence could mean big business for a Nevada fisherman and now, they could become a research subject for biologists.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife has granted the first permit to a commercial fishing operation in anyone’s memory.

It went to Fred Jackson, who said he founded his business, the Tahoe Lobster Company, one year ago and has since been testing fishing nets in an effort to “make this community explode with this product.”

A spokesman for the wildlife agency said the permit was granted because, unlike, for example, rainbow trout, the crayfish are not wanted -- at least, not in the water -- by wildlife officials.

“They’ll graze and feed on older algae and free up room for newer algae,” said Patrick Stone, a senior biologist with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. “And in that way, (they) free up blooms that we’ve linked to clarity loss and some of the green water.”

In other words, the annoyingly abundant crayfish are mucking up the otherwise clear water of the lake.

The species, called signal crayfish, are invasive, Stone said, and not native to the lake.

Their introduction to the lake was documented in 1895 and 1908, Stone said. It is not clear why, though one guess is that wildlife officials of the time may have viewed the crayfish as a food source that could help bring numbers of other fish back up.

In reality, the more likely reason that fish numbers were dwindling was because of overfishing, Stone said.

The TRPA not only granted an approval of Jackson’s fishing proposal, but the agency will also research whether the fishing will make a dent in the unimaginably huge population -- as many as 280 million crayfish -- at the bottom of the lake.

Jackson expects to start fishing sometime before the end of the summer, though as far as sales, he’ll have customers only on the Nevada side of the border.

The California Department of Fish and Game does not allow fishing on its side of Lake Tahoe and also does not allow sales in California of what Jackson catches.

It’s ironic, perhaps even frustrating for some California chefs, who typically order crayfish frozen from Louisiana.

“I didn’t know there was crayfish in the lake,” said Robert Phillips, executive chef at Riva Grill on the lake’s south shore. “So, it’s a surprise to me.”

“The fact that they can serve it down the street and I can’t serve it here,” Phillips said. “I’d love to serve it here.”

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